Murder in the Dark
by Riverstone38
Summary: It was a dark and stormy night... Well, it was more of a day. Either way, it was stormy. Anyway, the teacher is gone, the school has a blackout, and no one has any idea what to do. Until someone has the brilliant idea of playing a game very much like Hide-And-Seek. Jackson Jones is reluctant to play at first, but he agrees. Eventually. After all, it's only a game.
1. Let The Games Begin

**I have 3 different oneshots that I'm working on: Still Tired, Road Trip, and Roll Me Away. So, you have those to look forwards to!**

**I used to love playing this game. **

**Enjoy~**

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It was a dark and stormy night...

Well, actually, it was daytime. School isn't really open at night. It just looked like night because of the cloud cover.

Either way, the stormy part was true.

Jackson Jones sat in a classroom full of anxious kids, bored out of his mind. The teacher had left to go to some sort of teacher-y meeting. She said she was only going to be gone half an hour, but with the complete silence and the dull pounding of the rain, minutes felt like hours. Jackson sighed, putting his head down on the desk, resolved to taking a nap to help pass the time. Just as he closed his eyes, though, there was a burst of thunder and screams, then it felt strangely dark.

He opened his eyes-not that it did much good. It was pitch black.

There was scattered laughter and a few muttered apologies as everyone realized what had happened. It was just a power outage. These things do tend to happen during thunderstorms.

Everyone just kind of sat still for a few minutes, unsure of what to do. Then there was a harsh white light as someone turned on a flashlight in Jackson's eyes.

"Sorry," they apologized, and directed it somewhere else. "Guys, I found a flashlight! And my deck of cards."

"A deck of cards?" Someone-Jackson thought it sounded like Matilda-interjected. "What do we need a deck of cards for?"

"Well..."There was a shuffling sound. "I thought we might be able to play a game or something. You know, like Murder in the Dark."

A murmur ran through the class at the word _murder_. Jackson could almost imagine Matilda frowning as she said: "What kind of game is that? Are we actually allowed to kill people? I thought they frowned on that kind of stuff in school."

"No, of course not! I mean, about the 'killing people' part." The person insisted. "It's just a game. I'm guessing you don't know how to play?"

As the person explained how to play to everyone who didn't already know, Jackson zoned out, thinking hard. He wasn't sure he wanted to play a game with Murder in the title, especially since that was how Mom died. But then again, listening to how to play("When you find someone that the murderer has already gotten, you can shout 'Murder in the dark!' and the game stops. after...") It didn't sound too bad. Besides, it was only a game, right?

He was still considering when someone bumped into him, then poked him in the arm. Hard. "Hey-" He started to say, but the person interrupted him.

"Pick your card," they(she, maybe?) said. "We'll pass around the flashlight in a second."

Jackson felt around for a second until he found the cards, then drew one. The speaker immediately moved on to someone beside him.

Sure enough, they passed around the flashlight, and Jackson got a glimpse of his card. 7 of Spades. Great. A random person. Not the murderer, who got Ace, or one of the 3 ranked detectives, who got king, queen, and jack respectively. Now all he had to do was hide and hope no one found him.

Eventually, everyone saw their card(there were about 30 people in the class) and the game could begin.

~.~,~.~

Jackson hurried through the hall, trying to step as quietly as he could, without knocking something over. It wasn't easy, but every once in a while lightning lit up the interior of the school through the windows.

He checked the rooms, but there were almost always other teacher-less classes in there, so he passed them up. Finally, after a good 15 minutes, he found two rooms, facing each other, that seemed empty. He took a cautious step forwards into one...

He tripped over someone, crashing into a desk, knocked something glass onto the floor(oops) and generally made a lot of noise. Whoever it was was laying on the ground without moving, which meant that the murderer had been through here. Remembering what he was supposed to do, Jackson cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled "Murder in the Dark!"

Right after he did this, there was a flash of lightning. For a brief second, he could see that the person he'd tripped over was Ruby. _Double oops_, Jackson thought, wincing inwardly.

There was a scramble of footsteps, then a blinding flash of light as a terrible shriek split the night.

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**Heehee! Writing this is actually a lot of fun. Originally, I wrote one long chapter, but then I decided to split it into three. So, sorry for short chapters, but hey! At least we get cliffhangers! (Some worse than others...!)**

**LoL(Lots of Love. I am not laughing at you, I promise.)**

**~Riverstone**


	2. Is This The Right Card?

**And we're back! Were you worried?**

**Enjoy~**

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Jackson jumped, knocking another desk over. The other person, who had the flashlight, yelped and stumbled backwards, eliciting another shriek from whoever was behind them. Then several sharp voices immediately began scolding the flashlight holder.

"Watch where you're going!"

"You scared me to death..."

"Y-you made me s-smear my m-makeu-u-up...!"

Jackson let out an involuntary noise of relief. Nothing was wrong. Just a bunch of cheerleaders or something overreacting.

He waited impatiently for everyone to recover and arrive at the room. While he was waiting, lightning flashed several times. The last of these times, he noticed Ruby's playing card sticking out of her pocket. Curiously, he tugged it out and tried to read it, but the gloom made it impossible.

"Who's there? On the ground, I mean?" Someone next to Jackson asked. It was Heathcliff.

"Ruby," he answered, straining to see his friend.

"Really?" Heathcliff sounded surprised. "Wow. That's the last person I would expect to get caught. Wouldn't she know they were coming and be able to leave?"

Jackson shrugged, even though he knew that Heathcliff wouldn't be able to see it. "I guess so. Maybe they cornered her or something."

"Shouldn't she get up by now?"

"No, I think the person who is discovered is supposed to stay there until the detectives figure out whodunnit. Everyone else goes to them."

"I'm back." The flashlight holder(It was Duncan right now, but he must've found the flashlight after the game started, because Jackson could've sworn that the original person had been a girl) said. "Is everyone here?"

"Just about. This is Ruby's card. What is it?"

Duncan took the card from him and shined the light on it. He frowned. "No, this can't be right..."

"What can't be right?" Heathcliff asked.

The hair on the back of Jackson's neck stood up, and he glanced around uneasily.

Duncan flipped the card over, then back again, apparently confused. "Are you sure this is Ruby's card?"

"Yes," Jackson confirmed. What _was_ that? It almost felt like he was being watched..."It was in her pocket. Why? Is there something wrong with it?"

Duncan took a deep breath. ""This card is the Ace."

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**...**

**No comment.**

**Sorry for really short chapter. It might get longer soon. I hope.**

**LoL,**

**~Riverstone**


	3. Not Me!

**Just a game...**

**Enjoy~**

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Jackson wasn't sure he had heard right. "Isn't that the murderers card?"

"It is. And that's the problem..." Duncan sounded troubled. "Ruby? Hello? Can you get up for a second?"

No response.

Jackson couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching them.

"Ruby...?" The small, round light landed on her head. It shivered slightly as Duncan moved. "Ruby...Oh, God."

"What!? What's wrong?" Heathcliff demanded.

"She...she's not breathing...there's no pulse...oh, no, no, I can see blood...help...HELP...SOMEBODY HELP! PLEASE!"

Jackson's blood ran cold. The crowd panicked, everyone fighting and pushing, either to get away or to find out what was going on, but he heard none of it.

"_Mom?...Mom? Are you there? Mom? Who's there? Mom! What...?! Who are you? What's going on-"_

Someone pushed him to the ground. Far away, he could hear Heathcliff yelling. He sounded angry and scared all at once.

_"No! G-go away!" "Please don't kill me.." "MOM!" Blood, too much blood..._

_"Where am I? Where's Mom? Where's Chaz? Are they ok? ...There's someone in our house! They had a knife and...what...did you...say?" _

Someone was shaking him. No, wait, someone was running over him. There_ is_ a difference, even though it might feel the same sometimes. Jackson was dimly aware of someone talking:

"Who was the last person..."

"Saw him go into the room..."

"It sounded like there was a fight..."

"No, that's impossible. Jackson wouldn't kill her..."

"Is it? It was him, I know it. We shouldn't have trusted him."

"Heathcliff, there's no proof..."

"NO PROOF?! WE HAVE PLENTY OF PROOF! RUBY IS_ DEAD_ AND YOU'RE JUST GOING TO DISMISS IT AS AN _ACCIDENT_?!" Heathcliff's voice cracked.

The last sentence shook Jackson out of his stupor. "What? What did you say?" He asked, hoping that he was just going deaf. Or crazy.

Air whistled past his ear. "Murderer!" Heathcliff snarled.

"What are you talking about! Ruby isn't dead...she can't be dead.."

"Liar!" Heathcliff roared. "I'll kill you!"

"What's going on?" Someone demanded.

"Jackson killed Ruby!"

He heard a gasp. "But..."

"It's true!" Heathcliff insisted. The flashlight, which was aiming wildly around the room, caught his face for a second. His eyes were intense and full of rage. "We have witnesses!"

"That's not true!" Jackson protested. "I wouldn't hurt Ruby."

But no one was listening to him. They were listening to Heathcliff, which currently spelled very bad news. "He's a real murderer! We need to stop him before anyone else gets hurt."

"Guys, listen. I-I just found her like that. I swear I didn't do anything!" He backed up to the door.

Any other time, and everyone might have listened. But as it was, none of them had had to deal with a murder before. The crowd was confused, terrified, with frayed nerves from the game and the ongoing thunder. Fueled by rage and fear, they attacked like a pack of insane wolves.

Jackson knew there was only one sensible choice here-so he took it. He ran.

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**Longer than the previous chapter, though probably slightly-ok, very- OOC. Unfortunately, this is the best I can do right now.**

**I killed Ruby specifically for a reason...if you want to know why, just ask me.**

**Goodnight all!**

**LoL,**

**~Riverstone**


	4. Lightning

**Welcome back! I have returned from hibernation. Temporarily. Well, long enough to write this. And maybe something else. Hope you like it, hehehe...**

**Enjoy~**

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Jackson wasn't going to any particular place; he was just trying to escape, then buy enough time to prove his innocence.

But why would Heathcliff suspect him so quickly? Sure, he'd had a disagreeable past, but now he'd never hurt any of his teammates...

A sudden flash of lightning startled Jackson, and he stumbled and fell. The angry voices grew louder. He panicked, tripping over himself, until a hand roughly grabbed his shoulder and steadied him.

"Relax," a girl's voice soothed from the darkness. "I'm here to help." She tugged on his arm and started running ahead.

Jackson followed, sprinting to catch up. "Who are you?" He asked. "Did...did you say you can help? Does that mean you believe me?"

The voice was silent for a second. "Sorry, I just nodded, but I guess you didn't see that. Yes, I believe you."

Jackson was relieved. "What's your name? Do you know who the real murderer is? Why didn't you tell Heathcliff it wasn't me?" He asked, panting. Whoever this girl was, she must run a lot, because she was fast.

"My name is Misha. Yes, I know who the murderer is. And I tried to tell Heathcliff, but he wouldn't listen to me."

Jackson almost fell over. It was dark, and he kept running into walls. "Who?!" He demanded.

Misha grabbed his arm, making him jump mid-stride. "In here!" She hissed, and pulled him into an empty room. "Hide!"

Lightning flashed, and he took the opportunity to find a place to crouch down. Misha settled in beside him.

"I need to talk to you." She whispered. "Do you have anyone that hates you or has a rivalry or _anything_ at this school?"

"Do you mean_ before_ or _after_ my friend died?" Jackson asked dryly, then immediately regretted it. "Not really. Why?"

She ignored the thoughtless comment. "Because I heard someone tell Heathcliff that they saw you kill Ruby."

Jackson shook his head before remembering Misha couldn't see him. "So? That doesn't mean they're guilty. It is dark, and people were scared. They could've just been confused..."

"That's not all," she insisted, shifting her weight. "Whoever it was had a knife in their pocket!"

A shiver ran up his spine. "How do you know?"

"The knife reflected some of the light from the lightning."

That made sense. But before Jackson could reply, thunder boomed and lightning flashed, making him duck under the desk. He noticed something odd, though.

"How did you say you knew the knife was there?" Jackson asked, feeling uneasy.

"It reflected the light," Misha replied, moving around.

As Jackson thought this over, lightning briefly illuminated them. There it was again; the strange silvery flash in the otherwise dark room.

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**Hehehe...**

**Have a good night, everyone...**

**LoL,**

**~Riverstone**


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